smells great, lathers good, shaves even better

The Dona by JO line of products includes this great shave gel in many scents including the fresh, light Mangosteen. The 8.5oz bottle of clear shave gel isn't sticky and leaves skin in great condition. Just add water and a nice sharp razor and shave away, be you male or female, your parts above or below the waist. You'll be left with smooth, nick free skin and as long as you don't have allergy issues, no bumps redness or irritation.

Published:
April 10, 2013

Pros:

smells greatnot crazy expensivegreat resultsgood skin conditioner

Cons:

not a lot of lather more expensive than drug store ingredients differ than product page.

This is a shave gel and I must say a darn good one. Use it on your legs, your pits, your pubes- heck the smell is mild enough your man can use it if he wants! It'll work for anyone- for the everyday or the once in awhile.
It does contain many chemicals though, as well as fragrance, so if you are prone to allergies or sensitive skin, either skip the Dona products or at least do a patch test.

Basically shave gels are used in place of soap in conjunction with a nice, fresh, sharp razor to remove unwanted hair from the body and face and leave behind smooth supple skin free of nicks, bumps etc.
I found a link here of alternate uses for shave gels and creams, but I only suggest this if you find that this isn't the one for you- since it IS a somewhat luxury product.

When you first squeeze the gel out of the bottle, it is clear and thick, but not so thick that it doesn't run. It's fairly useless until you add water, in fact it will rub right into your skin, leaving a slight residue without being sticky. When you do add water - and I suggest warm water so your pores stay open, as cold will probably result in razor burn- it should lather up nicely. Remember though this is a luxury shave gel, not Gillette, so you are not going to get that magical 20 times the volume of foam that you get with the cheap stuff. My theory is that there is more air in that soapy foam and when you have more air not only do you not get as close a shave, but your skin doesn't get the same care that this stuff will give you and feel dryer and rougher.
I would include pics but this gel is clear and very difficult to photograph.

I love the smell but I'm going to have a very hard time describing it. I chose the MANGOSTEEN and although it is definitely reminiscent of mangoes, it is is lighter and not so sickly sweet. It's quite fresh and although it leans more towards the feminine I think it's somewhat unisex. Another reviewer by the name of WomanofChina has the best description of mangosteen, in my opinion, probably partly due to the fact that she has actual contact with real mangosteens.here is a thread from the forums about all of the Dona scents. In the thread, Cookie Monster Mike says "The mangosteen is just freaken phenomenal. It is the best citrus scented product I have ever used. It's strong, but not overpowering, acidic, tangy, sweet mangos/citrus that remind me of vitamin c chewables but only better.". Mangosteens are apparently superior in taste to a Mango but still a similar fruit from China.
I wouldn't suggest tasting this product, or any of the Dona products and there really is no need. I did it anyway though and doubt you'd be surprised if I told you it tastes like soap.?

I shave fairly quickly but if you choose to take your time, as long as the shower doesn't rinse it off you should be fine. Rinsing off your body parts after a shave is always a good idea, especially so you get a nice clean view of if you missed a few spots, But if you don't this gel will rub right in as a nice skin conditioner. Personally I didn't notice any residue after rinsing, but I must admit that I don't have the type of skin that is sensitive to this sort of thing.

What I did notice was that combined with a new 5 blade razor and after shave products, it gave my bikini area a very close shave. No nicks, nice and smooth, no red bumps and no irritation (except once when I used a blade without a handle - I suggest NEVER trying this, go hairy instead!)

The shave gel comes in a nice big bottle- 8.5 fl oz (250ml) to be exact.
It's a plastic bottle- fairly normal, although what is nice is that the black top screws on and off so you can make sure that you use all of the product inside. The cap has a flip top that opens to reveal a small hole- you can squeeze however much you need out without worrying about it getting everywhere.
The blue paper label covers most of the bottle and has a lace pattern on it that you will probably either find quaint, classy or tacky depending on your perspective. The ingredients and simple instructions are listed on the label; the only thing I was bothered by was that the ingredients listed were quite different than the ones on the product page. These are the ingredients as listed on the bottle:

I go back and forth between disposable razors and changeable razor blades, but either way I suggest you shave with a razor with at least 3 blades, preferably 4; I often go with 5. Either way- even if you only have single blade razors, this product is going to work best when the blades are fresh and sharp. Otherwise you really won't have a good indication of how close of a shave this gets you- nor will you know if it was the razor or the gel that left your skin in whatever condition you find it.

This product works great. I heard so many wonderful things about the Dona line of scents that I was disappointed when I bought the blue lotus massage oil and didn't like how it smelled. Pleasantly surprised was I when I received the shave gel in mangosteen- a 1000 times nicer fresher scent.
I also loved how much better this worked than the Kamasutra stuff. Granted, it doesn't lather like drugstore stuff, and it costs more than twice as much but it smells so much nicer and it honestly seemed to work even better. When I say "worked better" I don't mean the shave itself, as that was about equal to my fav drugstore brand- nice and close and smooth, but how it looked and felt afterward- that was an improvement. No bumps no redness, no ingrown hairs in the days to come etc. I would definitely buy this again.
I would also like to note that while below I have listed the other deluxe shave gels available on Eden, you can find all of the other Dona bath and body products from bath salts to lingerie wash in all 7 scents here.